July 1: Additional Coroner Chandrakant Kamble of the Cooper Coroner Court was today allegedly assaulted by seven municipal councillors, including the BMC health committee chairman, Dr Ram Barot. The councillors, however denied the allegation.According to a complaint filed by Kamble at the Juhu police station, the councillors entered his chamber at around 12.30 pm and had an argument with him. When Kamble asked them to leave, they ransacked his office and beat him up. They also threatened to kill him. The Juhu police have registered a complaint of rioting, physical assault and threatening to kill against Arun Deo, Anita Bagwe, Pandu Mangela, Sunil Bagde, superintendent of the Cooper hospital, Dr Y N More, and a few others. No arrests were made till reports last came in and the complaint did not include the names of Barot and Ashok Jadhav.Additional police commissioner Satyapal Singh told Express Newsline that the corporators went to Kamble's office to discuss a woman's death in August last. One Vaishali Santosh Pawar was admitted to Cooper hospital in August 1996. She was discharged on August 12, 1996, but died the next day. Her relatives had alleged that she died due to negligence of the doctors treating her. The Andheri police station had registered an accident death report (ADR). ``It appears that Pawar's relatives were angry with the doctor and wanted the coroner to convict him for negligence. I do not know how her relatives mobilised corporators,'' Singh said. However, Barot, in a counter move, has lodged a complaint against the assistant coroner with the Additional Municipal Commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad. The addl municipal commissioner, it was learnt, has assured him that the matter will be taken up at the highest level in the state Home Dept. Speaking to Newsline Barot denied the allegations and accused Kamble of ``trying to rake up a controversy and divert the attention of the people from the rampant corruption and unhygienic conditions prevailing at the court.'' ``I was on a scheduled visit to Cooper Hospital when the patients there told me about the corrupt practices at the coroner's court. We then decided to pay a visit to the court also,'' he said.``We were shocked to see the filthy conditions.naked bodies were dumped haphazardly. We immediately went to speak to Kamble,'' he said. ``After listening to a couple of questions, Kamble without any provocation whatsoever started abusing us in filthy language. When we persisted, he called the police. However, we left even before the police could arrive. On our way out we saw that the bodies were covered with cloth.''
